What is Unique in Buddha Dhamma?

1. When I hear the common statement, “all religions are the same, they teach you how to live a MORAL LIFE”, I cringe. That is because I think about all those people who are unaware of the actual message of the Buddha.

However, Buddha Dhamma goes beyond that. The Buddha said, no matter how well we live this life that will not help one in the LONG TERM.

Yet, even to understand that message of the Buddha, one needs to live a moral life first.

2. I have made a one-pager, which should be referenced here.

This chart can be viewed in a separate panel by clicking on “Buddha Dhamma – In a Chart” and printed for reference. There are a few key things that need explanation first:

The “mundane Eightfold Path” is depicted by the set of boxes in red starting with “mundane samma ditthi“. The next box depicts mundane versions of samma sankappa, samma, vaca, and samma kammanta” (“think, speak, and act morally to avoid bad outcomes/seek good outcomes”) and so on until “mundane samma samadhi“.

Most of these steps (not all) are in other religions as well as in conventional “Buddhism”, i.e., how to live a moral life. The goal of most other religions is to gain a (permanent) heavenly life at death. In the current versions of distorted “Buddhism”, the joys of heavenly lives are valued and often one is sometimes even encouraged to “enjoy such heavenly lives” before attaining Nibbana.

Even if a heavenly rebirth is attained in the next life, a future rebirth in the four lowest realms (apayas) cannot be avoided without attaining the Sotapanna stage of Nibbana. A phrase used by some bhikkhus in Sri Lanka goes as, “May you attain Nibbana at the time of the Buddha Maithree (next Buddha)”. Why not attain Nibbana in this life? Who is going to give guarantees that one will be born human during the time of the Buddha Maithree? Everyone should make use of this rare opportunity to be human, to strive now!

Until one comprehends anicca, dukkha, anatta, one always values future happiness in a permanent heaven (most religions) OR temporary happiness in heavenly worlds (traditional “Buddhists”). The difference between a traditional “Buddhist” and a Bhauddhaya is discussed in “A Buddhist or a Bhauddhaya?“.

One actually starts on the transcendental (lokottara) or the Noble Eightfold Path when one comprehends the dangers of the rebirth process and BECOMES a Sotapanna.

3. Thus one starts on the Noble Eightfold Path starting with lokottara (transcendental) samma ditthi of a Sotapanna (set of blue boxes). One has seen a “glimpse of Nibbana“, i.e., one KNOWS that permanent happiness is not possible anywhere in the 31 realms and that whatever effort one makes to achieve such a happiness is like chasing a mirage.

Note the difference in the box next to “samma ditthi” in the two cases. In the mundane path, “samma sankappa, samma vaca, samma kammanta” are “moral thoughts, speech, and actions” intended to avoid bad outcomes and to seek good outcomes.

In the Noble path, “samma sankappa, samma vaca, samma kammanta” are “thoughts, speech, and actions” intended to stop the rebirth process. One does not do immoral things because there is “no point” in doing such things. One knows that such things are not only unfruitful, but also dangerous, in the long run.

And one becomes more compassionate towards all living beings (not just humans), because one can see that each living being is suffering because of ignorance of the Buddha’s key message. One also realizes that one needs to fulfil obligations to others in order to “pay back old debts”; one is bound to the rebirth process not only via cravings for worldly things, but also via unpaid debts from previous lives.

4. The decision to become a Sotapanna magga anugami (the path to the Sotapanna stage) can be made anytime after getting to the “red boxes”, i.e., while one is on the mundane Eightfold Path.

In a way, a Sotapanna magga anugami is a Bhauddhaya in the real sense. Even though not in the Tipitaka, sometimes the word “Cula Sotapanna” (pronounced “chüla sötapanna”) is also used to describe the same person.

The key is to comprehend the “true nature of this world of 31 realms” that the Buddha described, i.e., that it is not possible to achieve/maintain anything that can be kept to one’s satisfaction (anicca), thus one gets to suffer (dukkha), and thus one is truly helpless in the rebirth process (anatta). This realization itself is like lifting a heavy load that one has been carrying, the first true taste of Nibbana.

5. This “change of mindset” for a Sotapanna is PERMANENT, i.e., it will not change even in future rebirths. One has attained an “unbreakable” level of confidence (saddha) in the Buddha, Dhamma, and Sangha.

And a Sotapanna can follow the rest of the 7 steps in the Noble Eightfold Path even without help from others. Thus one will attain the next three stages of Nibbana (Sakadagami, Anagami, Arahant) successively by following those steps.

6. In the Maha Chattarisaka Sutta, the Buddha outlined how one needs to first follow the mundane (“lokiya“) Eightfold Path; see, “Maha Chattarisaka Sutta (Discourse on the Great Forty)“. This is a first NECESSARY step in order to get rid of the worse kinds “gunk” that have been built up over countless lives.

With the unique message of the Buddha has been hidden for hundreds of years, what is conventionally practised today is just this mundane Eightfold Path. This is what we call “Buddhism” today.

Since “Buddhism” not that different from what is advised by most other religions, it is easier for people to resonate with the mundane concepts in “Buddhism”, where Samma Ditthi , for example, is considered to be the “correct vision” of “how to live a moral life”.

Of course that is a first necessary step. That will help one to be able to experience the benefits of moral behavior (even in this life as a “niramisa sukha“; see “How to Taste Nibbana“) and then to comprehend anicca, dukkha, anatta, and to embark on the Noble Eightfold Path to seek permanent happiness or Nibbana.